Dad’s Lenten Blog

Thoughts during Lent

Tag: christianity

  • The biggest purchase

    What was your last big purchase? Maybe a trip? The clothes that you wanted? A house? Think about what you had to sacrifice to be able to spend that money. In the end, we all hope it was worth it. It’s called value. And the more valuable something is to us, the more we are willing to sacrifice to obtain it.

    Sometimes, I like to think about Jesus life before He started his ministry at the age of 30. We have to remind ourselves that Jesus always knew his divine nature and therefore knew what came before him, and what was coming in the future. As we get closer to Easter week and the Passion of Our Lord, we can reflect on just how crazy those days were in Jerusalem. After all, Jesus spent three years healing hundreds, raising people from the dead, doing miracles beyond imagination witnessed by thousands.

    And just days after he entered Jerusalem as a great prophet to cheers and rejoicing, he would face the worst possible experience anyone could imagine. And yet, He did it. Of His own free will. You see, He loves us so much that He was willing to give the greatest sacrifice, His life. Sacrifice for what?? It is only by His suffering and dying on the cross that He purchased for each of us the path to heaven and eternal life. That purchase was for the debt of our sins. The price…. His death on the cross. How could any of us ever feel worthy enough for that generosity?? The thing is, we can’t. But it does make me realize just how much he loves me and you. What is the value of a soul? For Jesus it was……. The biggest purchase of all.

  • Front of the line

    Sometime ago I was told the story of a woman who had visions while she was in Mass. She could see all the supernatural things happening as the Mass went on. Well, as you know, this is one persons experience and we do not have to believe it. But something she saw really affected me.

    It was during the Presentation of the Gifts. When the bread and wine and the offerings are brought to the priest. Of course we are usually singing the Offertory Hymn. But it was in this moment that she saw something extraordinary. Directly behind the people who bring up the gifts was a line of many, many angelic figures. It was the Guardian Angel of every person in that church.

    In the front of the line, a handful of these angels were joyful and looking towards the altar. In their hands were golden chalices. In those chalices were gifts of prayers and petitions of those individuals in their care that were in the church that offered them at this Mass. As the passed, the angels placed their chalices at the foot of the altar. In the middle of the line, were another handful of angels walking up to the altar. In their hands were much smaller chalices, likewise containing prayers. Their faces were stern as they looked toward the altar. As they passed, theytoo, placed their small chalices at the foot of the altar.

    In the back of the line is where most of the angels were. Something looked very different about them. They were empty handed. Their heads looked down, with sadness, to the ground as they passed by the altar with nothing to offer. You see, the first Guardian Angels had chalices filled with prayers and petitions to offer Our Lord. The second group with smaller chalices only had a few tokens of prayer and petitions. But at least there was something. Then the last group, the bigger group, they had nothing to offer.

    How did this affect me? It was pretty profound! And I will say that, at almost every Mass now I will always try to tell my Guardian Angel to for offer this to Jesus. First, I thank God for all my blessings, which includes all of you. Second, I try to recall my sins and ask for forgiveness. Third, I pray for or ask for whatever intentions are on my mind. And Fourth, I resolve to do better! And then I ask my Angel to place those on the altar. This just takes a few moments, and it has the effect of settling me into the Mass. Sometimes I’m distracted and forget and then the Offertory starts and I try to do a quick one. (no ones perfect :-). Whether it is truly happening or not, I just love the thought that my Guardian Angel is at the front of that line.

  • Don’t tell anyone

    I have often wondered why after Jesus healed someone, he charged them not to tell anyone. The leper, the blind men, the mute man, the father of the daughter he brought back to life, and even the demons He cast out who knew who he was. Why?

    Many scholars can espouse on this better then me. Why all the miracles and then the command not to let anyone know about it? Wouldn’t that draw people to Him. Wouldn’t that make people believe?

    I think the truth lies in our hearts. What is more important? Jesus the miracle worker or Jesus the Savior. Perhaps the reason was that he wanted His message, His teachings, His mission to be front and center. First and foremost….. faith. If we got what we wanted all the time, every time we asked we would be like spoiled children. His actions always were driven by an increase in faith and sometimes our hearts are so hard that only a miracle can break through. 

    I like to think about this from the perspective of the hemoraging woman who touches His cloak. She is healed. And He says to her,”Your faith has healed you”. This is the point.  His message is clear. He has come to heal, to cure. But not in the way that we think. He came to heal hearts. To show us the path to heaven. 

    All His words, all His teachings, all His parables, all His actions lead us to transform our lives. To believe. To have faith that we are loved and through Him we have a path to heaven. 

    If all people thought about was Jesus working miracles or that Jesus was the Messiah would they hear His message? If they weren’t cured would they walk away disappointed or worse? He taught to love our enemies… wasn’t the Messiah supposed to deliver Israel from the hands of the Romans??

    All His words, His Gospel message lead us to one place. We pray with fervor and hope. And when we do, miracles of all sorts small and large come to us. But it is those personal miracles that only we can see that strengthen our faith. 

    So for three years He performed all kinds of miracles, Turning water into wine, healings, razing people from the dead, feeding thousands, on and on. There is no question in my mind that all of those people absolutely told people. When the blind man who could now see or the paraplegic walks around. People could see and ask how did this happen? Wouldn’t they seek out the man who had done this? 

    Who would have thought in a million years that the man with the message of love, of hope, of forgiveness,  would be tried, tortured and nailed to a cross? The miracle worker could not save Himself. How confused everyone, including the disciples must have been???? How their faith would have been tested. How did those miracles look now with Jesus hanging on the cross?

    But then…….. the Resurrection. He conquered death. He defeated sin. He completed His mission. 2000+ years later, for you and me. His words, His message, His teachings are the most important things. Lasting and unfathomably deep. Certainly miracles are all around us. But it demands from us what He wants the most. Faith. 

  • Waiting

    Something struck me at Mass on Sunday. It was the Transfiguration gospel. It was when at that when at the top of the mountain Elijah and Moses appeared in front of Jesus, they began to speak to each other. We are not told of the conversation.

    Here’s the thing. There were no mortal souls in heaven. Every human being ever born from the beginning of time was waiting for the Resurrection of Jesus to enter to heaven. There is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ. So all the souls of those who had departed the earth were waiting, anticipating, hoping and I have to believe, praying. So what could’ve been this conversation between Moses and Elijah and Jesus? Neither Moses or Elijah were in heaven. They must’ve known that Jesus’s mission was unfolding. That heavens gate would soon be opened.

    There was a famous visionary named Anne Catherine Emmerick in the 17th century who is had visions of the Passion of Christ. Much of Mel Gibson’s movie was based on those visions. In one story I had read, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and, as we all know, in great anguish of about what was going to happen. She described her vision and said, “Jesus, in his great agony, turned and saw the multitude of souls on their knees, praying for Him.” I don’t know why that is always stuck with me when I picture Him there in the garden, but it has. He knew He would be abandoned by his closest friends and followers. The pain and burden about to placed on Him. Maybe that sight fortified Him in some way.

    How many hundreds or thousands of years were those souls anticipating this moment not fully understanding its magnitude. From the simplest of people to the great prophets. Maybe Jesus told Moses and Elijah to go back and tell all the souls to prepare.? Where did Jesus go for three days between His death and Resurrection? We say, in the Creed, that after his death, he descended into hell. But it is not the hell of eternal damnation. It was the dwelling place for those souls. All the souls who had been waiting.

  • Freedom

    I saw a bird the other day. It flew up with a little branch in its beak. It looked around and flew away. It occurred to me that this little bird was  really free. It was free to fly where it wanted and when it wanted in the direction it wanted to go and where it wanted to land. It was free to decide where it wanted to build a nest. But yet, it has instincts. Innate. The instinct to eat to drink and to build a nest to lay eggs. 

    I thought to myself what it doesn’t have is will. What is the difference? We have similar instincts; when we’re hungry, we eat, when we are thirsty, we drink. These are innate  to all of us. But what sticks out is the difference between me and the bird, and that is will. 

    I can decide what I want to do and when I want to do it, I decide to stand up. I decide to sit down. I can decide to go work out. I can decide to do many things. It’s these decisions that make us different from all creatures. Ultimately it is the freedom of Will.

    When God created us, He gave us free will. The ability to choose. We are not robots or slaves. It’s the ultimate act of love. When God created the angels He gave them free will. The free will to choose love, to choose God. It was free will that let Satan and all of the fallen angels to choose pride over God. Likewise for us, He gives us freedom. The freedom to choose. Freedom is not a right it is a gift. The gift of free will.

    When I think of Jesus in the garden, hunched down. Sweating blood from anxiety. It makes me really pause. His whole life on earth had come to this. He knew what He was about to endure. He had the freedom of choice. He had healed the sick, raise people from the dead, walked on water, calm the oceans and storms. Certainly He could choose a different path. But He didn’t. 

    Instead, with full knowledge of what it’s about to happen He united his will with God’s will. He chose to save me. To save all of us. God did not make Him choose. He did not force Him. In the greatest act of love, Jesus willed himself to walk the path to the cross.

    We cannot forget that He was a man. Flesh in blood just like us. What could it be like to take on the sins of all mankind? It’s an unfathomable burden that we can’t even contemplate.When they ripped the flesh from his body, He could have made them stop. When they placed the cross on his shoulders He embraced it. It was his choice. His will.

    And where did He get His strength from?  It came from God’s love for us. He loves us so much that He gave his only Son so that we could be with Him forever. Jesus united His will with His Father.

    The bird can fly where it wants but is driven by instinct. I can decide where I want to go but I am driven by will. If I can just unite my will with God’s will, then I know the path will lead me to heaven. It’s not easy, there are many burdens, many crosses, many temptations. But we can will ourselves to pray, to go to Mass, to go to confession, to offer up our problems and weaknesses. And the more we decide to do those things, we all know, the closer we get to clarity, to peace, to His will for us.

    Just think how precious this gift is. It is the gift of love. It the gift of true freedom.

  • Now that is a sacrifice

    I have always wondered about St Peter. Being a husband, a father and a provider I have always questioned how he could do it. The real sacrifice he had to make. I have always struggled, admired, contemplated and reflected on Saint Peter’s decision. So without quoting scripture, the story goes that he was out fishing all night and caught nothing. We fisherman know how that feels. And so he brings his boat ashore and is most likely putting up all of his equipment. And then Jesus walks up, looks at him and tells him to put out a little and put your nets in. If I was Peter, I would be like “I’m exhausted, there is no bite, I wanna go home and sleep!” But of course, Jesus must’ve been very convincing.

    So Peter obeyed him and put his nets back out. You know the story, the nets filled with so many fish that it almost sunk the boat. But it’s what happens next. Saint Peter recognizes that Jesus is something beyond words, something truly holy. “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” These were Peter’s words. Jesus didn’t choose a highly exalted righteous educated man. He chose this working man, more than likely, rough around the edges.

    “Come, follow me…. and I will make you a fisher of men.” And so Peter left his boat and nets and everything behind and followed him. Wait a minute…… what???

    He left everything he worked for his whole life, he left his wife and maybe his children??? His friends?? His home?? Now that is a big decision. I can’t imagine the sacrifice. Not just for him but also his family.

    But I always come back to this. That sacrifice beared so much fruit. That “Yes, I will follow you”, though it must have been so hard, resulted in the foundation for Christ’s church on earth. 

    So in your lives remember that even the smallest sacrifices will bear fruit whether you see it or not! St Peter, Pray for Us!!